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| Sunday, 14 July 2002 |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 1 429239 / 331181 Fax : 94 1 429230 Managing the peace If the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement has been a dramatic success partly because of the desire of the vast majority of Sri Lankans to bring about peace and partly because the flexibility of the Agreement itself allows for both sides to gain some advantage. The Sri Lanka Government has won access overland to the once-embattled Jaffna Peninsula and the new ease of land communications has provided an opportunity to Colombo to woo the Northern community back into the national fold. The LTTE has won a new freedom of movement to fulfil its new role as a non-military political movement that is ready to work for an alternative to secession. But the Ceasefire Agreement cannot be more than what it is intended to be: to end the military hostilities at least temporarily. A permanent end to hostilities can only be guaranteed by a negotiated political settlelement of the problems that gave cause for the war. For this, the Agreement does not and cannot provide. And it is those unresolved critical problems that fester un-addressed and all the while providing the rationale for further conflict. That the danger of conflict is ever near the surface, despite the stand-down by the military forces of the two sides, was tragically evidenced by the recent communal clashes in the East. Similar dangers lie elsewhere in the once war-ravaged North-East as well as in the rest of the country. Both the Government as well as the LTTE must work hard to tackle the un-resolved issues so that this peaceful interim that has been achieved is not disturbed before the more difficult task of political negotiations of the core issues is set about. And neither party can go it alone. The help of other actors on both sides of the ethnic divide is essential if the ceasefire is to be managed in a way that it could lead to a permanent peace. India India's new External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha has chosen to make Male and Colombo his first destinations in fulfilling his ministerial role. Colombo, on its part will surely rejoice that, yet again, the intimacy of the Delhi-Colombo relationship has been demonstrated and affirmed. At the same time the other nations of South Asia must also watch keenly the attitude of the new personality in the sphere of Indian external relations toward Indo-Pakistan ties. After all, Pakistan is not only the second most powerful State in the region but also both countries are in the unenviable position of being the two most intimate neighbours in terms of community and culture and yet the worst enemies. The current tensions between India and Pakistan are the most heated since the last 'hot' war over the militant intrusions across the Line of Control in Kashmir. And it is a continuing problem of such intrusions and the consequent increase in fighting inside Kashmir that is the immediate cause of the current tensions. While every step must be taken by both sides to reduce such immediate tensions, the other nations of South Asia know full well that what is needed is a more profound effort to begin to address the fundamental issues of Kashmir's status and the aspirations of its peoples. Till then the entire vast community of South Asian must hold its breath and pray that another provocation or misunderstanding will not drag the whole region into the fires of all-out war and a nuclear holocaust. |
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